i thought it was brave of him and right of him to have written that book and that he deserves to be commended for it. c-span: you write in that same column, 'then we cannot understand how we got from the end of 'nam to where we are now, all this distrust and dislike that americans now have for one another, all this cynicism.' >> guest: i think that vietnam was a terribly destructive episode. and i'm--it's interesting to me, as somebody who was young in the '60s, to hear now the constant references to the '60s as though sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were the only things that happened. i was very--like many young people in the '60s, i was very political, and as far as i was concerned, the '60s were about first the civil rights movement and then the anti-war movement. and i missed sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll entirely. damn, what a fool. but it was a time, i thought, of great idealism. and then when--when the country got dragged into vietnam, i think it dragged a lot of people into despair and cynicism and nihilism because it was just so stupid. c-span: you say that you have lessons that have bee